By Canadian Press

N.S. budget: Health spending up slightly after election focused on problems

Sep 26, 2017 | 1:45 AM

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia’s Liberal government, which had promised to address the health care problems that dominated the spring election campaign, drew derisive opposition reviews by adding only $6.2 million in new health spending to a budget worth $10.5-billion.

The majority government’s added investment Tuesday — on top of planned spending in an April 27 budget that was shelved due to the May 30 election — is a tiny fraction of the $4.2 billion annual health department budget.

Finance Minister Karen Casey said the budget “builds” on the earlier document, and fulfills Liberal promises to deliver back-to-back surpluses and lower taxes.

“We made some difficult, but necessary, decisions to live within our means. At the same time, government made key investments in communities across the province,” Casey said.

“Nova Scotians . . . want more timely access to primary care and to family doctors. They want shorter wait times for surgeries, and they want better access to mental health services.”

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The budget hikes overall spending by $19-million over the April document.

The extra health spending includes $2.7 million for orthopedic knee and hip surgeries, $2.0 million for mental health, $800,000 to assist people who need cancer drugs and have limited private insurance coverage, and an added $800,000 for the opioid use and overdose program.

The budget also keeps the $2.4 million promised in April to support the recruitment and retention of doctors. The funding creates 10 new places in the family residency program at Dalhousie University and opens 10 new spaces a program that assists international doctors in establishing practices. 

Progressive Conservative Leader Jamie Baillie pulled no punches, saying he was “pissed off” by a budget that in his view failed to live up to Liberal claims that the government had heard concerns on the campaign trail about a lack of doctors and long wait times.

“It’s very clear all of that was just lip service,” said Baillie. “No new money for primary health care and family doctors … when it comes time to put his money where his mouth is, the premier lets everybody down.”

NDP Leader Gary Burrill was equally dismissive of the government’s fiscal efforts for a sector he says is in crisis.

Over the past two years, stagnant funding and delayed spending on health facilities has accompanied stories of bursting hospital pipes, shortages of family doctors and — over the past winter — a dying patient left to languish for over six hours in the hallway of an overcrowded emergency department.

“It’s a bit like they’ve brought a garden hose to a house fire,” Burrill said.

“All those people that are looking for a family doctor, they’ll be looking to the budget and asking: ‘Is this going to help me with my predicament?’ Plainly it’s not.”

The budget still has a $21.3-million surplus, but that’s $4.6 million lower than the original budget due to a drop in revenue from income tax and the increase in departmental spending.

In dismissing the opposition’s complaints, Premier Stephen McNeil said the government had carried out its promise by adding $82 million in new spending to health, including the April figures.

McNeil said voters had also sent another message during the campaign, and that’s why the government didn’t use more of its surplus for health.

“Nova Scotians want us to live within our means. They want us to make the investments that reflect who they are … and we will continue to do so as we go forward.”

McNeil said strategic investments in health would continue over the long term and would be reflected again in next spring’s budget.

In the April budget, the health budget rose almost two per cent — and it is now consuming about four of every 10 dollars spent by the province as its population continues to be among the country’s oldest.

Meanwhile, an unexpected clean-up operation on a waterfront development in Halifax is consuming $4.7 million that wasn’t in the pre-election calculations.

There’s also an additional $2.5 million for the Atlantic Fisheries Fund, a joint program with Ottawa that funds research and innovation in the fish and seafood sector.

The Liberals are keeping a promise to reduce taxes by an average of $160 for a half-million low- and middle-income earners. They’re doing that by increasing the basic personal exemption by up to $3,000 for taxable income up to $75,000.

The change is weighted towards lower-income Nova Scotians, and will also mean 63,000 poorer Nova Scotians will no longer pay provincial income tax after the program kicks in Jan. 1, 2018.

Earlier this year, the suicides of three young students in Cape Breton prompted calls for more prevention and support programs. The budget adds money for social workers, guidance counsellors and mental health clinicians. 

“During the last campaign, Nova Scotians said clearly that mental health was a priority for them,” said Casey in her speech. “We will hire more clinicians, put more support in underserviced areas, and cut wait times for mental health care.”

The Liberals say they are still planning to spend about $6 million for new collaborative care centres — one of the measures aimed at remedying problems in primary care, and addressing the premier’s 2013 election promise to provide each citizen with access to a family doctor.

The cost for the middle class tax cut in the 2017-18 budget remains at $22 million. The annual cost to the treasury will be $85 million.

In addition, a previously announced tax cut on small business income will cost about $14.1 million a year.

The province’s net debt is about $15 billion, which is $15,860 per person.

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Keith Doucette and Michael Tutton, The Canadian Press